Miscellaneous Code Snippets

This is a selection of common code snippets or tricks that I have used in creating my Text and AutoType templates. You can see usage of most of these tips in my Collection Report and Library Report on their respective pages. This list is by no means complete, and I will be adding to it as I develop or find new methods. They are mainly a reminder to me on how I did something!

See the sections on Family Historian Keystrokes and ORA Keystrokes for a comprehensive list of all the individual shortcuts.

They were not all authored by me, but do work in my system. If you find any errors, or better methods, please let me know.

Text Templates
AutoText Templates
Library Templates
ORA navigation in Family Historian
Basics of writing an Auto Type template
My Generic Auto Type BMD template docs

Text Templates

Text Templates are 'bound' to a Collection within a Service, and must have a Heading and Template.
They can be static notes or comments, a prompt to capture the value of a field that you specify for use in the autotype template, or a concatenation of fields to make just one field with all the data.

Add color to a text note use something like this :
<\<span style="color:Red"\><[?:Sex=F]Make Groom the Focus>\</span\>>

If you want to start a new line in a multi-line note use this line break : \<br /\>

To make a word bold, surround the word(s) with \<b\>word\</\b/\>

To make a word in italics, surround the word(s) with \<i\>word\</\i/\>

To add a new field that has not been extracted from the webpage by ORA, you must enter a Heading and Template, for example
Heading : Street Address, and Template : <[Street Address]| *Enter*>
You will see the field Street Address, and in the data section *Enter* Move your mouse cursor over the *Enter*, hold the Alt key down and click, then update the field, and press enter. That field and content will then be available for an AutoType template to process.

We can concatenate fields and text to build a compound field that can be copied and pasted. For example, I built one for creating a GRO reference:
Heading: GRO reference
Template: [Surname], [GivenName] : [Registration Quarter] [Registration Year] district: [District] Volume:[Volume] Page: [Page]\<br /\> Mother's maiden name : [Mother's Maiden Surname]

Reverse the order of Given names, Surname to Surname, Given names, use [Name:nameSurname], [Name:nameGiven]

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Auto Type Templates

Autotype Templates are also 'bound' to a Collection within a Service, and must have a Heading and Template.

a # character in the first position in a line makes that line a comment. I am trying to make a habit of always putting a # comment line at the beginning of my templates with the date that I wrote or updated it. ie
# updated on 24 Nov 2022
# and a comment to describe what the function or template does.

Anything you can do in Family Historian by just using the keyboard (no mouse) can be done in ORA Autotext templates

To set the value of a variable, use: [=:Censusdate:30 Mar 1851] or [=:Repository:ANC] etc

To test if a variable exists and has content, use: [?:Occupation]

To enter today's date in a field ie in Citation date, use [Page.Access Date]

To extract Ancestry's Collection number, use : [Record Id:split:\:\::1]

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Library Templates

Library Templates are NOT bound to any Collection within a Service.

They are not functions like the standard program libraries, but are selected pieces of code that are common to one or more auto type templates.
For example, most of my Generic sources are based on me using the lumper method. I have effectively one source for each Collection within a Service, and that allows me make my AutoType templates call (or include) a common piece of code that selects the Source, and skips over the source entry data, and starts off with the Date entry, Assessment and WhereWithin in the Citation section.

Library templates are called with [lib.template name] and can take parameters.
see the help on Libraries at https://www.ora-extension.com/en/template-library.htm.

The above library template is called by over 60 of my Ancestry autotype templates. Once I built the template and got it working to my satisfaction, it now means that if I want to change anything covered by the [lib.Set_Source_thru_WhereWithin], I only have to change it in one place, and not in the 60+ Ancestry Autotype templates. In fact, as Find My Past and Family Search have slightly differing source elements, it allowed me to clone the above library template and customise it for the other Services.

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ORA navigation in Family Historian

We have discovered some anomalies with Family Historian keyboard short cuts and how the equivalent in ORA does NOT Work!

Alt+F4 works manually, but is ignored by ORA
Alt+Enter works manually, but is ignored by ORA
from Highlighted person on Focus Window to open their Property Page
work-around used {F10}{Right*3}{Down*15}{ENTER}
Ctrl+F4 works manually sometimes, but is ignored by ORA
Close a workspace window?

Start Focus Point	To move to...	Use ORA Commands..
Any input field in that workspace	next input field	{TAB}
Any input field in that workspace	Previous input field	{Shift+TAB}
Individual's Property workspace input field	Source/Citation pane and select Cite Existing Source	{Ctrl+U}{Ctrl+I}{down}{enter}{Ctrl+D}
Individual's Property workspace input field	Source/Citation pane and select Add New Source from Template	{Ctrl+U}{Ctrl+I}{down*2}{enter}{Ctrl+D}
Individual's Property workspace input field	Source/Citation pane and select Add New Generic Source	{Ctrl+U}{Ctrl+I}{down*3}{enter}{Ctrl+D}
Source Filter input field	post [Source.Title] or enter source name; to select when found, use	{F6}{space}{enter} or {F6}{Ctrl+Home}{enter} or {F6}{down}{up}{enter}
Any Tab on Individual's Property Page	Move Right to next Tab on Individual's Property Page	{Ctrl+tab}
Any Tab on Individual's Property Page	Move Left to previous Tab on Individual's Property Page	{Ctrl+Shift+tab}
Facts Tab	Search and select Fact name	{Ctrl+I}factname{enter}
Check Box or Radio button	Toggle on or off (true or false)	{space}
Rich Text note field	Open up the Rich Text Editor	{Ctrl+space}
Any Note or Research Note	to enter a web link	{SHIFT+F10}{FAST}{UP*2}{RIGHT}{DOWN}{ENTER}
Focus Window highlighted Individual	Open that Individual's Property Box	{Alt+ENTER}